Your privacy, in plain language
We built Mates and Sheilas to help you remember the people you care about. That means you trust us with sensitive information — and we take that seriously. Here's exactly what we collect, how we protect it, and the rights you have over it.
Last updated: May 21, 2026
On this page
What we collect
We only collect data you give us directly, or that gets generated when you use the app. We don't buy, source, or infer anything about you from third parties.
Account information
When you sign up we collect your email address, a hashed version of your password (we never store it in plain text), and your display name. We also store an encrypted secret for two-factor authentication, which is never exposed.
Mate data
Information you enter about your mates: name, nickname, birthday, email, phone number, and any free-form notes you choose to add. You control every field — nothing is auto-populated from external sources.
Conversation notes
The text or voice transcript you submit when logging a conversation. This is the raw input you provide — we don't record or access your actual phone calls or meetings.
AI-generated content
Structured facts extracted from your conversations (for example, "started a new job at Acme"), profile summaries, talking points, and conversation summaries. All of this is generated from your own input and stored in your account.
Reminders
Reminder titles, dates, and the mate they relate to.
Usage and technical data
Basic analytics about how the app is used (pages visited, features clicked), your preferred language, and standard server logs (IP address, timestamps). We use this to figure out how to make the product better.
How we store your data
Where your data lives
All data is stored in a managed database hosted within the European Union (Netherlands). Your data never leaves the EU.
Field-level encryption at rest
We don't just encrypt the database disk — we encrypt the actual content of sensitive fields before it reaches the database. Even if someone got hold of a copy of the database, your personal data would be unreadable without the encryption keys.
Every piece of personal content — mate details, conversation text, AI-generated profiles, and reminder information — is individually encrypted using industry-standard AES-256 encryption before it reaches the database. Even with direct database access, your data would be unreadable without the encryption keys.
How we search encrypted data
Because the actual values are encrypted, we can't run a traditional database search on them. Instead, we use one-way cryptographic techniques that allow lookups without ever exposing the underlying data. These auxiliary values can't be reversed to recover the original data.
Encryption key rotation
We use a multi-key setup that lets us rotate encryption keys without any downtime or data loss. When keys are rotated, data is re-encrypted transparently in the background.
Encryption in transit
All communication between your browser and our servers uses HTTPS with TLS. Data is never transmitted unencrypted.
How AI processes your data
Which AI provider we use
We use Google's Gemini AI (via Vertex AI) for all AI features, including extracting facts from conversations, building mate profiles, and generating talking points. Vertex AI is Google Cloud's enterprise AI platform, designed for secure, scalable AI workloads. All processing happens in the EU (europe-west1 and europe-west4 regions).
What data the AI sees
When AI processes a conversation, it receives only the relevant conversation text and existing profile data for the mates involved. It does not receive your user account ID, your email address, or any data about other users. Each AI call is scoped and sandboxed.
Your data is not used to train AI models
Google does not use data submitted via the Vertex AI API to train or improve its models. Your private conversation notes and mate data are never used as training data — this is covered by Google Cloud's Data Processing Addendum.
You review before anything is saved
AI-extracted facts are never applied to your mate profiles automatically. After each conversation is processed, you see a review screen where you can accept, edit, or reject each extracted fact before it becomes part of a profile. You're always in control.
Turning AI off
AI processing is on by default but you can turn it off any time in Settings → Privacy. When off, new conversations are not sent to Google's Gemini. Existing profiles and talking points remain visible. You can turn it back on whenever you like.
Protection against prompt injection
We treat all user input strictly as data, never as instructions. Multiple layers of input validation and architectural safeguards stop your conversation notes from being used to manipulate the AI's behaviour.
Voice transcription
Voice input is available on the Premium plan only.
How voice input works
When you use voice input, your audio is streamed in real-time to Google Cloud's speech transcription service. The resulting text transcript is what gets saved to your account.
Audio is never stored
We do not record, store, or retain your audio in any form. The audio stream is a pure pass-through — it travels from your device to Google's transcription service and nowhere else. Only the text transcript is saved.
Google Cloud transcription
Transcription is performed by Google Cloud's speech-to-text service. Google processes the audio solely to return a transcript and does not retain it for training purposes under the default API terms.
Data sharing
We do not sell your data
We will never sell, rent, or trade your personal data to third parties for marketing or any other commercial purpose.
Service providers
We share data with a small number of service providers who are necessary to operate the product. Each provider only receives the minimum data required for their specific function:
- Google Cloud — infrastructure hosting, voice transcription, and AI processing (Vertex AI / Gemini). Processed under Google Cloud's Data Processing Addendum. Not used for model training.
- Stripe — payment processing for subscription billing, processed under Stripe's Data Processing Agreement.
- Google Analytics — aggregated, anonymised usage analytics. No personal mate or conversation data is included.
Legal requirements
We may disclose data if required by law, court order, or to protect the rights and safety of users or the public. We will notify you of such requests where legally permitted.
Business transfers
If Mates and Sheilas is acquired or merged, your data may transfer to the new owner. We will notify you in advance and your rights under this policy will continue to apply.
Your rights (GDPR)
Because your data is stored in the EU and we serve EU users, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies. You have the following rights:
Right of access
You can request a copy of all personal data we hold about you. Use the data export feature in the app (Premium) or contact us directly.
Right to rectification
You can correct or update any personal data in your account at any time through the app settings and mate profiles.
Right to erasure
You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from the Settings page. Deletion is immediate and permanent — there is no recovery period.
Right to data portability
Premium users can export their data in a machine-readable format directly from the app. For other plans, contact us and we will provide an export.
Right to restriction
You can ask us to restrict processing of your data while a dispute is being resolved.
Right to object
You can object to processing based on legitimate interests. For analytics data, you can decline cookie consent.
Right to lodge a complaint
If you believe we have handled your data improperly, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority. In the Netherlands, that is the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@matesandsheilas.ai. We will respond within 30 days.
Account deletion
How to delete your account
You can permanently delete your account from Settings. You will be asked to confirm before anything is deleted.
What gets deleted
Deleting your account permanently removes: your profile and credentials, all mates and their profiles, all conversations and extracted facts, all talking points and reminders, and all encrypted personal data. Everything is deleted completely. Nothing is retained.
This is irreversible
Account deletion is immediate and permanent. We do not keep backups of deleted accounts. Once you confirm, your data cannot be recovered.
Database backups
Automated database backups for disaster recovery are retained for a limited period. Your deleted data will be purged from backups within 30 days of deletion.
Security measures
We apply multiple layers of security to protect your data.
Mandatory two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication is required for all accounts — it cannot be skipped. You'll use an authenticator app to generate a short-lived code each time you log in, protecting your account even if your password is compromised.
Password hashing
Passwords are processed using an industry-standard one-way hashing algorithm before storage. We never store or log plaintext passwords.
Encryption
All sensitive data is encrypted both in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest (field-level encryption using industry-standard algorithms). Encryption keys are stored in a dedicated secrets management service, separate from the application code.
Data isolation
Every request validates that the resource being accessed belongs to the authenticated user. It is architecturally impossible for one user's data to appear in another user's session.
AI sandboxing
The AI processing pipeline receives only the scoped data required for a specific task. It has no database access, no user identifiers, and no visibility into other users' data.
Responsible disclosure
If you discover a security vulnerability, please report it to security@matesandsheilas.ai. We will acknowledge your report within 48 hours.
Changes to this policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. The updated policy will also be posted here with a revised date.
For non-material changes (such as fixing typos or clarifying language), we will update the policy without individual notification, but the date at the top of this page will always reflect the most recent revision.
Contact
If you have questions about this policy, want to exercise your data rights, or have a privacy concern, please reach out.
Privacy enquiries
privacy@matesandsheilas.aiSecurity issues
security@matesandsheilas.aiWe aim to respond to all privacy requests within 30 days.